Silva: 'Intensity' Key For Everton In Chelsea Clash

Marco Silva has called on his Everton team to replicate the intensity shown against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge in November when Maurizio Sarri’s side visit Goodison Park on Sunday (4.30pm kick-off).

The Toffees matched Chelsea blow for blow in west London as the teams fought out a keenly-contested 0-0 draw.

Everton were disciplined in defence and carried a consistent attacking threat, with Bernard and Gylfi Sigurdsson both going close to making a breakthrough for Silva’s men.

The result came in the thick of an impressive run of form for the Blues, which saw Everton pick up five wins and one draw in seven top-flight matches and rise to sixth in the Premier League table.

Boss Silva - who revealed Leighton Baines has fully recovered from a back problem but Phil Jagielka will miss the game through injury - says the application, desire and ambition shown at Stamford Bridge must act as a blueprint for how his players approach Sunday’s contest.

“It wasn’t just the clean sheet [that pleased me], we played a very good game against them,” he said.

“We had our chances to score goals. We were solid, but we didn’t just play without the ball, we showed quality with the ball also.

“We had good intensity in the game, we had some good moments in our offensive organisations, some good counter-attacks and it is everything we should do on Sunday.

“We know they are very strong with their front line and the players they have in the middle zone, also.

“But we are here playing at Goodison. We achieved a good result playing against them away and, if we play with confidence, we can achieve better at home.”

Sunday’s match represents the first time the Blues have played at Goodison since the Merseyside derby on 3 March, when the watching Evertonians’ created an electrifying atmosphere at the Grand Old Lady.

The players responded by delivering a high-octane performance against Jurgen Klopp’s men and Toffees boss Silva says he hopes Goodison will again be rocking for Chelsea’s visit to L4.

“If the fans can repeat [that] atmosphere, we will be delighted about that,” he said.

“It is a quality team we are playing against, we have to show our quality also.

“With our fans, with the atmosphere we can achieve at Goodison again, they can push us to achieve the three points.

“I want to have some words to the fans who were with us at Newcastle, too, they didn’t deserve that result. I am 100 per cent sure of that.

“Now we are back at home and if the fans can repeat what they did in the derby, it will be fantastic.”